Judge rules YouTube video of pony called 'Lady Gaga' was defamatory

A libel action over an allegedly "downright dangerous" polo pony called Lady Gaga has reached the High Court.

Louisa Donovan, who deals in polo ponies through her business PharmaPoloPonies based in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, sold Lady Gaga to Kate Gibbons.

But Mrs Gibbons was not happy with the pony, which she found unsuitable for her children to ride, said Judge Richard Parkes in London.

Mrs Donovan would not take it back and there was deadlock, with the upshot that, in February last year, Mrs Gibbons arranged for her son or husband to upload on to YouTube two videos which showed a polo pony bucking while being lunged.

As the videos played, a caption was shown with the words "Pharmapoloponies.com Louisa Donovan sold this polo pony as being suitable for children. Downright dangerous and a scandal they get away with this".

In June last year, a third video was uploaded with the same footage and the same caption and they all remained accessible until the end of this February.

Mrs Donovan, who bought the pony back at the end of last year, claims that the videos are defamatory of her but Mrs Gibbons denies libel and says they are honest comment or opinion.

Ruling today on the preliminary issue of whether the words were defamatory of Mrs Donovan under common law, the judge found in favour of Mrs Donovan.

He said that the ordinary reasonable person watching the video would have concluded that Mrs Donovan had sold Mrs Gibbons a dangerous pony as being suitable for children, even though she must have known that it was wholly unsuitable for them.

"That conduct would plainly entail a reckless preparedness to put the children at risk."

He added: "I find that the true meaning of the material is that pleaded by the claimant. In that meaning, it is of course unarguably defamatory of the claimant in a personal, as well as a business, sense."